PHILLIPS – On July 12, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Zelwood Alpha Gravlin, missing from World War II.

Sergeant Gravlin entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Connecticut and served in the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group. On Aug. 1, 1943, Operation TIDAL WAVE, a bombing raid against the oil refineries around Ploiesti, Romania, was launched. One hundred and seventy-seven B-24 Liberators took off from Benghazi, Libya, for the raid. Sgt. Gravlin was a gunner on one Liberator, nicknamed “Four Eyes”, (serial number 42-40655-5) that was one of fifty-one planes that failed to return. His remains were not identified following the war. Operation TIDAL WAVE, while successfully damaging the Poliesti oil refineries, cost the lives of hundreds of USAAF airmen, many of whom were interred by Romanian citizens into the Bolovan Cemetery in Ploiesti.

During postwar operations there, the American Graves Registration Command exhumed unknown remains that were eventually reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. In 2017, DPAA began exhuming those unknowns for comparison with the unaccounted-for airmen lost during Operation TIDAL WAVE. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and Sgt. Gravlin.

Sgt. Gravlin is survived by his great niece, Sue White of Phillips; nieces and nephews, Leanne Smith and family, Terry Worcester and family, Sheralyn Leavitt and family.

Funeral services with full military honors will be held on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, at 11 a.m., at the Phillips Area Community Center (PACC), 21 Depot St., Phillips, Maine. Following the service, Sgt. Gravlin will be laid to rest beside his mother, Ida, at the Mile Square Cemetery, in Avon. A reception will follow at the PACC.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Dan & Scott’s Cremation & Funeral Service, 488 Farmington Falls Rd., Farmington, Maine 04938.